The Lost World

The Lost World is a 1912 science fiction novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It tells the story, via the narrator Edward (“Ned”) Malone, of a South American land where dinosaurs and other ancient creatures still survive. Malone tells the story from a first-person point of view, relating the narrative through letters and newspaper articles containing his account of the voyage. The Lost World explores themes of adventure, exploration, evolution, the love (and limits) of scientific knowledge, imperialism, and more.

As the novel begins, Ned visits Gladys, a woman he loves and whom he plans to marry. She senses that he is going to propose and asks him not to, saying that she wants an adventurous man whose dangerous exploits have made him famous. She wants to be married to a man that will make other women jealous. Her remark galvanizes Malone to undertake the voyage to South America.

While interviewing Professor George Challenger for a potential newspaper story, Malone is astonished to hear that Challenger claims to have found live dinosaurs in South America. That evening, he watches Challenger address a group of academics who dismiss him as a fraud. Challenger says that he will return to South America to bring back proof. With the memory of Gladys’s refusal in his mind, Ned joins Challenger on his trip, along with Professor Summerlee and the explorer Lord John Roxton.

Once they arrive in South America, they make their way to the mysterious plateau, where they find pterodactyls, stegosauruses, and other creatures thought to be extinct. During the middle of the story, they encounter a tribe of Indigenous people feuding with a large group of human anthropoids, who Ned refers to as “ape-men.” They help the tribe defeat the anthropoids and reclaim their land.

After their adventure, they return to England with a young pterodactyl, which Challenger reveals during another speech to the skeptical academics, proving that his claims were true. Ned finds that Gladys has married someone else—an unexciting young solicitor’s clerk. Lord Roxton shows the group that he found a large cache of diamonds on the plateau, which he shares with them. Bemused, sadden, and enriched, Ned agrees to return to the plateau with Lord Roxton.

The Lost World was well-received by critics and adapted into a popular 1925 film. Modern day films like Jurassic Park show a clear debt to Doyle’s novel.

Please be advised that the book contains racist and offensive language. This guide may quote anachronistic language for contextual purposes, but it replaces Doyle’s outdated language when not directly quoting the text.